“They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, ‘Sit here while I go and pray.’ He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. He told them, ‘My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’
He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. ‘Abba, Father,’ he cried out, ‘everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.’” Mark 14:32-36, NLT
Note from the New Believer’s Bible
For every believer there comes a Gethsemane, a place where obedience overrules personal desire and where spirit becomes more important than flesh, a place where the glory of God becomes more important than the believer’s glory. Jesus promised, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it” (Matthew 10:39).
Each of us must come to the point where we say along with Jesus, “I want your will to be done, not mine.” So don’t be afraid to pray, “Abba, Father”—a term of endearment and tenderness, like a child calling her father “Daddy”—and then surrender yourself to his perfect will for your life.